


Falling Slowly

by Spirit_catcher



Category: Yuri!!! on Ice (Anime)
Genre: ABO, Alpha Katsuki Yuuri, Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, M/M, Mpreg, Omega Victor Nikiforov, VictUuri, Victuuri baby, viktuuri, viktuuri baby
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-01-11
Updated: 2019-02-03
Packaged: 2019-08-05 21:01:57
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 9,927
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16374956
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Spirit_catcher/pseuds/Spirit_catcher
Summary: Victor has just retired and moved back home to Hatsetsu with Yuuri when they decide to expand their family.Set a few years after Azriona’s ‘Those Three Words’ series.





	1. Falling Slowly, Eyes That Know Me

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Those Three Words](https://archiveofourown.org/works/9618635) by [azriona](https://archiveofourown.org/users/azriona/pseuds/azriona). 
  * Inspired by [Those Three Words](https://archiveofourown.org/works/9618635) by [azriona](https://archiveofourown.org/users/azriona/pseuds/azriona). 



> First chapter is finally done! Sorry it’s so short; the next ones should be longer, as they were the ones I had the most ideas for initially.

“A sibling would be good for Aina”, Yuuri mused quietly from where he sat on the couch with Victor. They were both watching their 3-year-old daughter rope the Nishigori triplets into helping her build something from a box of blocks she had just tipped all over the floor of the onsen’s communal lounge area. Yuuri smiled apologetically at his sister as the latter rolled her eyes, though there wasn’t really any need; Yuuri knew even staunch, no-nonsense Mari was susceptible to Aina’s natural charms… Not to mention the heart-shaped smile she had inherited from her Russian father.

Victor’s eyes followed Aina, Axel, Lutz, and Loop as they ran out of the room and away from the mess they had no doubt only just gotten started on creating. He then turned himself to fully face Yuuri.

“Thinking about baby number two already?” the older man asked asked, smirking. “I’m not long retired! Not to mention we only just moved back home to Japan.”

“Uh, um.” Yuuri flushed, knowing he’d been caught out on a desire he’d been sitting on for a while. He and Victor both wanted to have another baby, though had agreed their lives were too busy parenting a toddler while juggling two competitive skating careers and Victor’s coaching on top of that. And they were barely back in Japan, having been collected from the airport and driven to the Katsuki family home and onsen in Hasetsu by Minako early yesterday morning. He and Victor had managed to unpack the essentials and set Aina up in Yuuri’s childhood bedroom before they in turn retired to the banquet room they were using as a shared bedroom this time. They still hadn’t really discussed with everyone whether they would live here or find a place of their own… Yuuri knew his parents wanted them to live here and raise Aina in an extended family environment, as many Japanese people still did. Yuuri sighed just thinking about all the decisions they still had to make despite having planned this move and Victor’s official competitive retirement for over a year.

“I’m just teasing, moya lyubov”, Victor went on, rocking forward to drop a quick kiss onto the burning blush now spreading over Yuuri’s brow towards his hairline. Then he chuckled, adding in afterthought “Though your enthusiasm is appreciated, as we don’t know how long we will have to try for.”

Yuuri, not satisfied with forehead kisses alone during a discussion like this, pulled Victor flush against him before kissing his mouth deeply. Panting slightly, Yuuri drew back enough to cup Victor’s face in both hands and look him straight in the eye.

“I don’t think that’s going to be a problem”, Yuuri said slyly, slipping his arms low around Victor’s waist.

“Is that so?” Victor loved when Yuuri’s confident side came out.

“Well,” Yuuri said, face now crimson, “You got pregnant so easily last time. Actually, maybe we should be careful, hold off a bit longer in case it’s like that again...?”

“As amusing as it would be to see Yurio’s fury at me getting knocked up at the start of my time coaching him, I would like to enjoy my first off-season”, Victor agreed, supressing a smile. Then the amused glint in his ice blue eyes dimmed slightly, and Yuuri felt him reach out and take his hands with a serious expression on his face as he continued. “But I’m even older now, particularly for a male omega. It might take longer for me to get pregnant this time.”

That made Yuuri’s face fall. Victor hastened to continue. “So, as your coach, I recommend ongoing practice until a goal is achieved. Think we can manage that, Zolotse?”

Yuuri gave a happy little wiggle - one he would swear was involuntary if Victor ever called him on it - which caused Victor to laugh lightly again.

“Oh, shut up”, Yuuri said with a mock pout. “Like you haven’t been thinking about that part!”

He moved to kiss Victor again, but was brought up short by the triplets announcing their return and general opinion of adult affection displays.

“Ew! Stop being gross!” The triplets ran back towards the mass of toy blocks they’d all previously abandoned. One of them was carrying Aina (hair now in multiple uneven braids) and the other two carrying an assortment of hairbrushes, hair ties, and accessories.

Even Victor, normally unflappable and unapologetic in his displays of affection, appeared embarrassed to remember they weren’t actually alone in the home and onsen. Yuuri carefully slid a respectable distance away from Victor, rubbing his neck awkwardly. Thankfully their daughter seemed unbothered by the encounter; Aina just stared in her usual quiet, observant manner (something Victor swore - and everyone agreed - she got from her Otousan).

-

It wasn’t until they were getting ready for bed later the same evening that the topic of having more children arose again. Victor slid under the covers but remained sitting up, finger resting on his lips in a thoughtful pose. Yuuri lay down next to him and snuggled against his thigh, waiting for him to speak.

“It would be good for Aina to have a brother or sister”, Victor finally said. “I mean, you saw how she was with the triplets earlier… We weren’t able to give that to her in Russia, but here… Here, we could give that to her. And she’s now old enough for us to share the experience with her, talk her through what is happening without too many issues… Maybe not right now, but soon…?”

Victor appeared lost in thought about the prospect of a second child, and all this it entailed. Yuuri knew how his bonded mate felt, was feeling pretty much the same things through their shared bond… Indescribable longing and excitement to go through pregnancy again, to bring another child of their own into the world. But this time he would be with Victor every step of the way, and both of them prepared for the experience.

“We can do this”, Yuuri murmured, kissing his mate’s forehead. “I’ll be the happiest man alive. I already am, really, because I have you.”


	2. Take This Sinking Boat and Point It Home

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sometimes you have to get bad news so you can then have a miracle.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Edit: How do you get italics on AO3??? I just realised half my formatting didn’t translate into here from the Word document... I was able to fix most things, but not the italics 😞
> 
> For Lauriana25... I hope you get your miracle soon, just like so many others I know. There is always hope! 💛
> 
> Anyway, I wrote another chapter to have a break from real life. I did this instead of knuckling down and writing that paper on human responses to targeted anonymous Internet hate now that I have pretty much gathered enough reactions... ANYWAY, this could be made a lot better, but have to get back to real life, and it’s more done than it was so I’m posting here. ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯ #YOLO

“I should get checked”, Victor said, sliding into place beside Yuuri at the family tatami.

Yuuri sipped his drink as he took a moment to process what he’d said, then realised that he didn’t have enough information to know what Victor was talking about. “… Yeah, you’re gonna have to be more specific, anata.”

Victor preened at the Japanese endearment, as he did every time Yuuri used it on him (even though this is every day). “I need to have another follow-up physical anyway now that I’ve retired, but I think I should also see an omegologist like Dr Sato again. You know, make sure my knees will be okay with me carrying a baby… that I’m not too old… stuff like that.”

Yuuri didn’t miss the false casual air Victor was employing to try and conceal his undertone fears, and hastened to reassure his mate. “You aren’t old, you really aren’t. You are only 30, plenty of people still have children at this age.”

“Yes, but not male omegas”, Victor pushed on, frowning with a mixture of worry and (strangely) insistence with an edge of petulance.

Yuuri was used to anxiety and self-doubt from himself, not his bright and confident at times utterly ridiculous mate. But as a veteran worrier, he chose his words carefully before moving closer to Victor and gently scenting him as he spoke. “Would being checked over first help you feel better before we start trying?”

Victor paused, brow furrowed in thought, then slowly let out a breath. “Yes”, he said. “I feel like… I think I need to know what we are getting into before we start.”

Yuuri frowned, not sure where this conversation was going. “Victor, we are already parents. We have Aina. And we definitely weren’t prepared for her”, he added drily, recalling the saga of only finding out he was the father when Victor was already 8 months along and living with him as his coach.

Victor at least had the grace to look embarrassed about that, even after all this time. But he quickly continued with a more serious face. “I just… I don’t know.”

“Don’t know what?”, Yuuri prompted, smoothing an arm up and down Victor’s tense back.

“I don’t know how to explain it… This feeling that something is wrong and this time is going to be different? Something with me, I think. Like last time happened too easily.”

Yuuri wasn’t sure ‘easy’ was the best term to use for the months of turmoil Victor in particular had endured as he tried to bring himself to tell Yuuri about the night they had shared together and the child they went on to bring into the world. Deciding it was neither necessary nor wise to mention that aloud, he opted to kiss Victor’s forehead instead before lightly scenting him with his wrists. “Then let’s both get checked before we decide anything else, okay?”

“Okay”, Victor agreed quietly, nestling in closer. Yuuri hummed soothingly, not able to shake how odd it was to be the one reassuring rather than being reassured this time.

-

Yuuri was the first to admit aloud that he wasn’t sure how fertility was tested for. Then again, he hadn’t even known that fertility could be tested for. Thankfully they were being seen by the same omegologist they had for Aina, Dr Sato, who was her usual patient self.

“Well, I’m first going draw some blood to check a variety of parameters, including hormone levels. I’ll also need a urine sample to further check for one of those hormones in particular. Then I’ll need to do a quick internal examine, including taking a smear to check how the tissue in there is… And it probably won’t be necessary today, but we also have facilities here to do things/imagine tests like an ultrasound or a hysteroscopy, which involves inserting a flexible tube with a camera so we can get a better look at everything we need to in there. I’ll also need to do a general full body physical, to make sure a pregnancy will be safe to go ahead. Carrying a baby is hard work, and can be particularly demanding or even dangerous for a male omega. I’ve thoroughly reviewed your health and sports fitness records from the last couple of years, and in particular I’m worried about the impact carrying a baby will have on you’re your already worn knees, Victor.”

Victor nodded, having already anticipated how his extraordinarily long figure skating career and recent late retirement would continue to affect his body and choices. Yuuri, having been too caught up in the surreal feeling of reassuring Victor when Victor had casually brought this up, suddenly felt some kind of mental breaks slam on in his brain.

“Wait, your knees, Victor! And all the other stress injuries you have had… Is a pregnancy something we should even be considering? What if your body can’t handle this? What if your knees can’t hold up with baby and all the extra fluid and pregnancy weight? What if…” Yuuri trailed off, but his mind was silently racing ahead with all the things that a pregnancy could do to Victor, no matter how well they planned it… What a terrible idea this is… How on earth had he been the calm one so far this time??

Dimly, he felt rather than saw Victor exchange a soft, knowing look with Dr Sato, before the latter moved away to start gathering venepuncture supplies. Victor reached for Yuuri’s hand and squeezed it gently.

“There’s my anxious alpha”, he said, smiling warmly. “I was wondering where he’d got to.”

Yuuri shot his mate a look.

“Don’t joke about this”, the younger alpha groaned. “How could you have let me get so excited about this that I somehow forgot to worry?”

“I’m not joking”, Victor stated firmly, “Not about this. And I didn’t want to be the one to make your anxiety catch up… though I knew it would. And I do think we can do this again, I really want to, as long as you stay by my side.”

Yuuri let out the huff of breath that had been building inside him, but otherwise allowed himself to melt inside at those words that held so much meaning to them… Stammi vicino…

“There are always risks,” said Dr Sato, returning to them with what she needed, “but you are here early with me to find out all we can to make this as safe as possible, which makes you sensible people. Well, sensible people this time”, she added, lip quirking at one edge slightly. Yuuri and Victor were both left in no doubt that she was recalling overseeing their pregnancy last time, and her justified exasperation with how they - in particular Victor - had gone about handling it.

Victor kissed Yuuri’s forehead and enfolded the slighter man in his longer arms. “We are going to be just fine”, he reassured bracingly. “I’m not worried now that I’m here being checked out. Once we know the issues, we can work through them. I know of people who have been on bed rest for the last part of their pregnancy for raised blood pressure, so I’m sure we can do something similar for me and my tired knees. What I need is you by my side to help me get through. And our wonderful doctor, of course.”

Dr Sato’s mouth twitched in amusement again before she pulled back, hands full of multiple small blood vials.

“All done”, she said, completing each individual label before depositing them all in a sealed bag with the more detailed lab form. Yuuri blinked, impressed; he hadn’t even realised Victor had withdrawn one of his arms from around him to have blood drawn from, let alone when Dr Sato had taken multiple samples. Then she addressed Victor. “I now need to physically examine you. If you are happy for Yuuri to be here -” Victor’s hand seemed to involuntarily pull his mate closer “-then he can stay for the first part. As with last time, we ask that your alpha is not present for the examinations that can seem more… invasive. Painless, but nevertheless intrusive.”

Yuuri recalled having to leave the room when Victor had his internal examine towards the end of his pregnancy with Aina… He had hoped that their secure bonding and established relationship might have toned down this protectiveness by now, but he suspected it had not. Gritting his teeth, he nodded, trying to suppress the faint warning growl he could feel trying to escape from his throat.

The physical examination seemed to go quickly. Yuuri paid more attention to the internal voice of his anxiety and the crisp, pressed sheets of the examination table than Victor as his mate obediently followed Dr Sato’s directives. He then dutifully left the room when requested, but not without first throwing a longing look at his mate. Victor briefly returned the sentiment with a strained smile, before Yuuri had to regretfully close the door between them before walking down the corridor to take a seat in the waiting room.

Victor seemed a little quiet on Yuuri’s return, after briefly explaining that he’d agreed to have the hysteroscopy done as well while he was already here. Yuuri knew Victor was concerned this indicated problems had been seen; he worried the same… But after positive impressions from Dr Sato and a quick urine sample from Victor, both men were able to leave the clinic with good feelings about what was to come. Victor is right, we can do this… It would take more than problematic knees to stop them having another baby.

-

In the end, Yuuri hadn’t been wrong about that; this was more than knees.

“I don’t understand”, Yuuri said numbly, clutching Victor’s hand as they both sat facing Dr Sato across her office desk. They had been called back a few days later, without so much as a warning. 

“I’m sorry”, Dr Sato said gently. “I know you both really wanted this. But the test results all show that your chances of getting pregnant are very low… if not impossible.”

Yuuri dug his fingernails into the palms of his hands. Beside him, Victor seemed to visibly wilt.

“It’s me, isn’t it?” Victor asked flatly. “I’m too old now, aren’t I?”

“It’s not necessarily age” Dr Sato said gently in lieu of answering Victor’s other question. “There are many reasons a body may not be prepared for starting a pregnancy or carrying a child. Your test results overall show that you are unlikely to conceive in the first place due to issues with both ovulation and uterus environment…

“The level of luteinising hormone in your urine was exceptionally low, even for the current stage of your cycle when you are not about to ovulate … I suggest we test again in a couple of weeks time when you should be just about to ovulate; if it is higher then there may be less of an issue in this respect.

“You also had a high level of follicle stimulating hormone in your blood test, which means one or both of your ovaries are unable to adequately prepare to release an egg. You may not actually be releasing an egg with the levels as high as they came back from this test. While there is always the possibility that this blood test shows an outlier, it’s unlikely to be an exception or make a difference in your fertility overall, as you provided me with a really good record of your oestrus cycle and we did the blood test at an early time in your cycle.

“Your Inhibin B level also came back low in your blood test. While this isn’t such a reliable indicator of specific fertility issues, low Inhibin B levels are associated with low fertility.

“These results alone wouldn’t lead me to conclude infertility to such a strong degree, but as you know I also took some tissue samples at various places during the hysteroscopy. More than one of these samples show your uterus to be quite thin and fragile in places at the time the samples were taken, indicating your reproductive system is not responding appropriately to hormones that trigger your body into creating a suitable environment to grow a child in.

Dr Sato remained leaning forward onto the edge of her desk, and Yuuri could tell she was waiting for their reactions. Victor appeared too stunned for words. Yuuri himself felt incredibly numb, but he shook this off as best he could.

“What can we do?” he asked instead, sitting up straighter and taking control as he felt Victor almost imperceptively withdraw from the conversation. His omega needed him, and he would not let him down further than this news already seemed to have.

“As I said, I want to repeat at least the urine test in a few weeks time. The blood test too, if Victor is willing. Other than that, I can provide you with a number of information resources about improving fertility and chances of healthy conception through lifestyle factors like diet, sleep, and exercise. Though of course there is much debate, even contention, on whether or not lifestyle changes can make a significant difference… Particularly not for a fit, otherwise healthy couple like yourselves.”

Feeling like he was grasping at metaphorical straws rather than paper, Yuuri took the proffered pamphlets. He wondered if it was actually worth reading them, or if they were more a token apology that not a lot more could be done at this time. Yuuri thanked Dr Sato for her time and diligence, knowing she was just delivering the bad news and wasn’t in any way at fault for the outcome.

He for one felt drained, though he knew all this had barely started to sink in.

-

Telling his family was, if possible, even more exhausting. Yuuri knew it was grief and concern rather than disappointment in his parent’s eyes, but he still found it hard to look directly at them as he explained what they had learned. Mari was more practical, briefly giving her condolences before letting them know that Aina was currently having her afternoon nap upstairs and advising them both to do the same “because you look like you need it… That, or a cigarette.” Too tired to even roll his eyes at that, Yuuri let her push himself and Victor towards the staircase.

They stopped briefly to check on Aina in her room (formerly his childhood bedroom). Once in their own room, Victor dropped onto their bed without bothering to undress or get under the covers. Yuuri crawled over and curled himself protectively around him, as if he could somehow shelter him from the brunt of bitter disappointment and heart-twisting ache they’d both carried home from the clinic that morning.

Yuuri was still stroking Victor’s hair and whispering “It’s not your fault” and “It’s okay... it’s going to be okay” as Mari closed the curtains and silently pulled the door closed behind her to give them some privacy.

-

Yuuri decided to take his cues from Victor and wait for his mate to braoch the subject. It wasn’t until the next day that Victor finally seemed ready to face what they had learned. He was silently shuffling through the complimentary pamphlet pile, occasionally dully flipping one or two open before sighing and setting them to one side of the main pile. Yuuri noticed two pamphlets of fertility nutrition, one on sleep hygiene, and one on regular unprotected intercourse had been separated from the others. He wondered if Victor was going to look at those further when he was in a better head space, and vowed to not let Victor do so alone.

-

“You know, when you first showed me Eros, I couldn’t help but think that watching you would be enough to impregnate me, an alpha.”

Victor snorted wetly, but Yuuri counted it as a victory when he felt the corners of Victor’s mouth curled up in a small smile as he kissed the insides of his wrists.

“That would have been quite something”, Victor chuckled. “And here I was thinking it must have been awkward enough for you to explain to your parents that you fathered Aina.”

Yuuri grimaced.

“Yeah, it was… fairly embarrassing, to say the least. But I think they already knew, you know? You coming to Japan for me… And they could see what we already had between us then. God, they must have been so frustrated at how we kept dancing around each other, completely failing to communicate about something so life-changing!”

“Yeah,” Victor agreed, “But we got there in the end.”

They settled together in silence for a while, then Victor spoke again.

“I keep thinking you are going to leave me. It’s not that I think you would do something like that!”, he hastened to add at the anguished look on his mate’s face. “I just... can’t seem to help it?”

Yuuri reaches out and gently touched Victor’s face, smoothing away a stray strand of hair that had flopped into his eyes. “Actually, I get that. I get that a lot. Like, I know what people tell me, but I still feel what my anxiety is telling me more.”

Victor sighed heavily. “Yeah, that’s it. That’s exactly it.”

“Come here”, Yuuri said while already pulling Victor closer. “I’m not leaving. I’ve got you, and you’ve got me. And we’ve got Aina, and she’s got us. And no matter what, I never want that to change.”

Yuuri tried to hide his tears, but knew he was unsuccessful. As much as it pained him to see Victor cry, he selfishly realised he instantly felt less alone when tears started down the older man’s face, too. Knowing no words in any of their verbal languages would be enough, Yuuri made do with tucking his face into his mate’s neck directly over the bond mark he had given him all that time ago. 

Yuuri was unsure how much more time had passed - though he thought he for one may have fallen asleep, if only briefly - when Victor spoke again.

“At least we don’t have to worry about how my knees will cope.”

“... What?”, Yuuri sniffled out after a confused pause.

“My knees. Remember how worried you were that I would further damage my knees by carrying extra weight later in a pregnancy?”, Victor reminded gently.

“Oh. Yeah”, said Yuuri. It seemed a whole other lifetime ago when he had been stressing about that while Victor assured him with all his usual graceful confidence that he would be fine as long as he had Yuuri with him.

Victor was possibly the one who was going to need the most reassurance now, Yuuri realised with a slight pang.

-  
“How are we going to tell Aina?”

“… What?” Yuuri raised his head groggily, becoming accustomed to the shared nest they had resorted to building on their bed as an attempt at a healthy outlet for their grief.

Victor didn’t seem able to look him in the eye, instead needlessly straightening a few bordering pillows. “How are we going to tell Aina that she may not get a brother or sister of her own? I mean, I know we hadn’t actually talked to her about giving her a sibling at all, whether naturally or by adoption or surrogacy, but isn’t she still going to ask questions?”

“Maybe not now, but one day”, Yuuri agreed, twisting his torso over and frowning up at the ceiling.

“I guess there are stilllots of options out there”, Victor continued, possibly more to himself. “And maybe even treatments we don’t know of yet, or that are still being discovered. Not that those will do much good for an old omega like me”, he mumbled.

Yuuri flipped back onto his belly and glared at Victor.

“How many times do I have to tell you? You are not old! And I refuse to let you blame yourself for this.”

Victor looked amused at that.

“’You refuse’?”, he repeated, barely suppressing a snort.

“Yes”, Yuuri replied stubbornly. “And now I’m going to get our daughter - that your amazing, beautiful, not old body brought into this world only a few short years ago - so we can share this nest with her. Because I don’t know about you, but I need to have both of you close to me right now.”

-

In the end, perhaps the hardest people to tell were their friends. Well, certain friends… Phichit and Chris once again proved to be the pillars of support and understanding they were after all these years. But Yurio was another force altogether.

Victor and Yuuri had - perhaps unwisely - decided to wait until Yurio and his best friend Otabek were in Japan to visit them just over a month later. Yuuri had been trying to come up with how to broach the delicate subject, knowing Victor struggled to discuss this even more than he did, when Yurio took the matter out of his hands.

“So what are you going to do now that you’ve retired? Are you going to pop out another kid, old man?”

Yuuri tried not to wince outwardly. He hoped he was more successful at this than Victor, who - amidst pottering around the room tidying up after Aina’s attempts to put away her toys before they’d put her to bed a short time ago - fumbled and dropped a container of crayons. Yuuri turned his head and shared a forlorn look with him over the back of the couch: Trust Yurio to hit two sore spots with one sentence.

He felt Victor lean over the back of the couch and cup his cheeks in his hands, tilting his face up and back. Then he was being kissed softly; first on the mouth, then on the forehead. He turned around where he sat, giving Victor a return peck on the lips before telling him in a soothing tone “Go check on Aina, then head to bed. I’ll join you soon.”

Victor gave him comforting shoulder squeeze with a profoundly grateful look. He then went without objection, feeling too tired and defeated to feel up to staying to witness his mate explain to Yurio and Otabek what the doctor had told them... Trying to put into words the loss they were still struggling to come to terms with.

-

Bracing himself, Yuuri gestured for the younger skaters to meet him at the tatami, before sitting down opposite the pair. He tried to not to bite his lower lip as he worked out what to say.

“Victor and I, we... I mean...”

He frowned. Why was this so hard to say? He decided to take a leaf out of Yurio’s book and just say it as it is.

“Victor and I want more children. We were looking at having another child now that he has officially retired from competition, but we got some bad news when we went to get things checked out with his omegologist. It... doesn’t look possible for us to have any more children of our own. Or at least not naturally.”

There was an extended pause. Then -

“Oh”, was all Yurio managed to say. At least until Otabek none-too-gently elbowed him in the ribs, and which he added “Sorry… I mean, sorry to hear that.”

Almost distantly, Yuuri registered that this was actually a pretty good apology by the prickly teen’s track record for tact and empathy.

He guessed that was the best he could get for now. They would just have to do the best they could, and take whatever else - good or bad - came their way.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And now to get back to more mundane things like saving lives after people do dumb things  
> (seriously, just because you’ve heard something can be done, doesn’t mean you also have to try it - maybe satisfy your curiosity using the Internet first, lots of dumb stuff is documented/memorialised for what could be eternity online)


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Victor and Yuuri finally get their good news!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’m sorry for the delay if anyone has been waiting for this update. I currently have some time off work and had actually set aside yesterday to finish this chapter... But then the mass shooting happened in my city, and it was all hands on deck for first responders. But over 24 hours later I decided to get my shit together and post this chapter because if anything can conquer hate in the world it is Victuuri fluff.

It had not been a good week. A rare dinner out with friends and family had turned into a nightmare few days of perpetual vomiting and diarrhoea for the majority of the dining party who had eaten the swordfish Teriyaki dish. Yuuri himself had been struck down, as had Minako, both his parents, Takeshi, and the triplets.

So it wasn’t altogether surprising when Yuuri awoke to the distant sounds of retching coming from down the corridor. Victor initially appeared to have been spared the worst of it, only reporting feeling tired, mildly queasy, and generally under the weather. Yuuri was thankful for this; no matter how wretched he himself felt hunched over the upstairs toilet bowl while Victor brought him a cool washcloth for his forehead, he steadfastly maintained the mindset that Victor did not need to be let down any further by his body. Though they still talked about it together in terms of supporting one another, neither of them really broached the subject of the infertility causes and what to do from here on out.

Hearing the pitiful sounds continuing, he reached out instinctively for Victor, but only felt a warm but empty space where his mate must have been until a minute or two ago. Stumbling slightly, he made his way out of bed and to the bathroom, where he found Victor’s distinctive silvered-haired head bowed over the toilet bowl. Yuuri let out a low sympathetic rumble and knelt down next to him. Victor jumped slightly at the sudden contact, but settled and readily allowed the soothing hand motions Yuuri began to smooth across his back.

“I was hoping you had missed the worst of it”, he murmured. “Seems it caught up to you after all.”

Victor made a noise akin to non-committal agreement, resting his head against the rim of the porcelain bowl as he tried to catch his breath.

It was turning into a long week for all of them.

-

But a few more days passed and Victor still felt no better. Bleary-eyed, Victor tried in vain to literally get back on his feet and on with his life, but even staggering between their bed and their toilet left him as a sweating and panting mess.

“Yuuuuuuri!”, he whined in a way he prayed was cute and endearing to his mate and absolutely not pitiful at all. “Yuuuuuuriiiiii, why do I still feel this way?”

Yuuri patiently smoothed his mate’s fringe back off his sticky forward, and assisted him to sit up in bed to take sips of iced water from a glass. Victor was reluctant to do so despite the cold, plain beverage being surprisingly refreshing (if only a temporary basis); he knew his stomach would just bring back up whatever he tried to put in it (often followed in interest with bonus bile). Victor eased himself back onto the pillows while Yuuri moved still mostly full glass back to the bedside table.

“Thank you”, Victor murmured.

He wanted to say more - Yuuri had been nothing but sympathetic and attentive since recovering from his own bout of food poisoning - but he was not sure he was even audible at the speed with which he was falling back to sleep.

The press of warm lips to his hairline told him Yuuri had heard and understood the sentiment.

-

But Victor continued to be sick over the next week, far longer than Yuuri or anyone else in the family had been.

It wasn’t until the end of the second week that it dawned on Yuuri that Victor had not actually been one of the ones to eat the swordfish dish that night. Victor had become increasingly picky and vigilant about what he would and would not eat; on this occasion he had cited avoidance of seafood due to risk of mercury exposure, which he had read about in one of the fertility nutrition pamphlets Dr Sato had given them. 

Recalling this brought Yuuri a prickle of unease, then an unexpected flash of hope that he just as quickly squashed. Surely he was still just looking for signs, anything that might indicate what they’d been holding out for all this time… No, it wouldn’t be that, and he wasn’t going to let himself get carried away by that fantasy. They’d already had enough heartbreak from that… He wasn’t going to inflict further reminder of that on his mate, particularly not when Victor was feeling so poorly. So Yuuri did not mention it to anyone.

Yuuri didn’t let himself consider it again until later that week, after he and Aina were helping Mari sort and fold the washing. Well, he was helping fold, while Aina extracted items from the clean basket at whim and handed them to either Mari or himself depending on who she chose at the time. Aina happily ran ahead of him as he carried a stack of freshly laundered towels back to their room, no doubt eager to see how her Papa was feeling. Sure enough, Aina launched herself onto the bed, albeit moving more carefully over to greet her Papa when Yuuri gently reminded her to be careful around him while he isn’t feeling well. Yuuri felt warm inside as he watched her insert herself into Victor’s waiting embrace, tucking her face into his neck right over his scent gland. Yuuri failed to suppress a happy rumble in his chest; this didn’t go amiss by Victor, who beamed over Aina’s head of dark hair and answered with a purr of his own. Feeling slightly giddy with happiness, Yuuri turned to finish putting the washing away, listening as Aina started chatting away to her Papa in a mixture of mostly English with the occasional Russian or Japanese word.

“You smell good. Sweet. Like… honey?” Aina sniffed cautiously at different places around Victor’s neck, as if unsure the smell was actually part of her father’s natural scent.

“Honey?”, Victor echoed, amused. “I thought you don’t like honey? Remember when Jiji tried to put it in your hot lemon drink when you had a cough and runny nose?”

Aina wrinkled her nose in memory. But then she was leaning back into Victor’s neck again and inhaling deeply.

“This honey smell is different”, she said after a while. “I think I like this honey.”

“Is that so?” Victor smiled indulgently and puller her closer so he could scent her and snuggle together better.

“Yes. Like nice honey”, Aina said decidedly. Turning her head and seeing Yuuri there watching them, she solemnly informed him “Papa smells like honey. But, like, nice honey.” She turned over in Victor’s arms again and mumbled something sleepily, face once again pressed into his neck. Yuuri pulled out his phone and discreetly snapped a couple of photos, smiling fondly as Victor winked at him.

-

They waited until they were sure Aina was asleep before moving her. Victor gently extracted himself from the little girl’s grasp, then Yuuri picked her up and carried her back to her own bed in Yuuri’s childhood room. Victor considered brushing his teeth, but quickly lost the battle of gathering enough energy to get up.

He was so close to sleep that he felt rather than heard Yuuri return. Having already changed into sleep clothes, Yuuri slid under the covers behind him, pressing close. Victor felt the familiar warm tickle as Yuuri breathed into base of his hairline. Nosing down his neck to scent him properly, Yuuri suddenly froze.

“She’s right. You do smell like honey.”

Victor snorted and mumbled “Nice honey?”

Yuuri let out an amused puff of air. “It does smell nice”, he agreed. “But, then again, your scent always smells nice.”

“Well, I don’t feel nice”, Victor couldn’t help but grumble.

“I know”, Yuuri soothed. “But it should pass soon. Everyone else is feeling much better now.”

“Yes, but no one else was sick for this long. You were only sick for a day!”

Yuuri hummed in agreement, lightly scenting him in attempt to comfort him… It worked; Victor could already feel the nausea starting to subside. But it returned once Yuuri’s more concentrated scent faded from the air around him.

“Do that again”, Victor demanded.

“Hmmm?”, Yuuri hummed sleepily.

“Scent me again”, Victor said carefully. “It… I think it helps with the nausea? Please”, he added hastily.

“Of course”, Yuuri agreed, before doing as requested, but this time with a deeper, longer-lasting form of his scent.

Victor sighed contentedly. “Thanks. Now just keep doing that until this food poisoning passes, and I’ll be the happiest man alive.”

“Happiest man alive…” Yuuri echoed sleepily, as if recalling these words from another time. Then Yuuri jolted behind him, suddenly awake.

“Victor, you’re pregnant!”, he yelped.

Victor himself made a more dignified noise of surprise, or so he would tell anyone else later.

-

Yuuri didn’t even remember running to the store. The next thing he was aware of, he was hurriedly kicking off his shoes at the main entrance to the onsen, a brown paper bag clutched in one hand.

He tried not to jiggle on the spot while waiting, first outside the bathroom while Victor took the tests, and then sitting on the edge of the bathtub while the over-the-counter pregnancy tests developed. Victor didn’t appear much more composed himself, periodically taking and squeezing his hand as they tried not to check the time every 30 seconds. Finally, it was time: a hand on each end, together they flipped over each test stick… And every one sported two parallel red lines.

“Pregnant!”, Victor exclaimed, hands hovering around his mouth as though he was unsure what to do with them. Yuuri himself stayed silent, unable to give voice to all the things he was feeling inside.

“We need to call Dr Sato”, he finally managed to croak out.

Victor flung his arms around Yuuri and nearly overbalanced them backwards into the tub, causing Yuuri to shriek at him to be careful and not hurt the baby. Victor just laughed, saying he knew everything was going to be just fine now.

-

It took a surprisingly short time to get the appointment with Dr Sato. Yuuri half expected scepticism, seeing as she had only months ago told them they would be unable to conceive another child… But of course Dr Sato was her usual professional self, congratulating them warmly and sincerely when the urine test came back positive. Then it was time for the truly exciting part. Victor hardly reacted to the feeling of the gel being squirted onto his skin, and he had to make a conscious effort to suppress his excited trembling when the head of the ultrasound monitor was gently moved across his abdomen.

Yuuri gasped beside him, but so quietly that Victor was sure he wouldn’t have heard it had Yuuri not been pressed up against him, clutching their shaking hands together.

“We made a baby”, Yuuri said softly, before correcting himself. “We made another baby.”

“Actually, you made another two babies”, Dr Sato said with a doting smile. “See these shapes, here and here? They’re your babies.”

“Oh my God”, Yuuri actually squealed, accidentally squeezing Victor too hard in his excitement and utter joy. “Sorry, sorry!” he added, hastily relinquishing his mate with a sheepish look on his face when he realised this.

Victor, meanwhile, didn’t move. He couldn’t stop staring at the screen where their baby - no, their babies! - were projected. He couldn’t seem to think long enough to even begin to say anything out loud. He sniffled, and before he knew it, he started sobbing. He wasn’t even sure why he was… Dimly, he could feel Yuuri pull him up and stroke his back, speaking to him in a comforting tone. He let him until his brain registered that Yuuri was reassuring him that he believed in him and that they could manage this together that Victor unfroze.

“No, Yuuri, wait!” he cried out, realising that Yuuri had misunderstood his tears. “I’m not crying because of anything like that! I’m crying because this - this is a lot to take in… And because I’m happy. Really happy.”

It felt strange to say that aloud after all the waiting and disappointment they had endured.

-

It was the first night since the antiemetics had been started, and Victor was finally asleep. Yuuri stood in the frame of their bedroom door, having just put Aina to bed. Still exhausted in the wake of his own worry, he was now also awash in suspended relief at seeing his husband in a peaceful state. The Russian man was still paler than usual, face pinched and drawn with dark circles under his eyes, but he had managed to keep down the small bowl of plain boiled egg and rice Hiroko had coaxed into him a few hours ago. Victor was now lying on his back; Yuuri smiled to himself as he realised his mate would not be able to do this several months from now, when he would be too round with their unborn children. Not having the energy to change into his usual sleep clothes, he crawled into the bed in his underclothes and wrapped himself around Victor, nuzzling into his neck while reverently stroking his flat abdomen. From the depths of his sleep, Victor began to purr quietly, the vibrations reverberating up through his chest. Yuuri held him tighter, sending back a contented rumble of his own. Blinking back tears, Yuuri kissed Victor’s scent gland before burying his face into his neck and sinking into the best night’s sleep he’d had for months.


	4. Update

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I’m in the process of leaving the Yuri on Ice fandom, so this fic isn’t going to be completed. I’m dumping the rest of my notes and partly written sections here. Anyone is welcome to continue writing this fic if they want to, otherwise I’ll leave everything I’ve done so far to give you an idea of what would have happened if I’d finished this.

Chapter 4: I Don’t Know You, But I Want You

\- Early trimester(s)  
WHOSE POINT OF VIEW IS THIS CHAPTER FROM???? VICTOR

[End up being admitted to hospital anyway for hyperemesis - Yuuri brings Aina in to visit]

Explaining to Aina that there are two babies growing inside Victor, that the babies are tiny right now but growing all the time. Assuring Aina that they will love her just as much, that they will love her and the new babies equally. Answering Aina’s questions about how they felt when Victor was pregnant with her… That they were just as excited to meet her… loved and cared for her and waited for her once they knew she was on her way… That she was a good surprise… That they will always love her, and she will always be special to them because she was their first baby and also the reason they are a family now.

 

[Starting to nest] Neither Victor nor Yuuri really allowed the feeling of relief to settle in more comfortably until Victor’s symptoms [reneged, eased] enough to allow him to start nesting, as is natural of expecting omegas in the first trimester onwards. Victor observed Yuuri suddenly voicing fewer worries about how else the pregnancy might negatively affect Victor and the babies, and more about finding the cosiest, softest blankets and pillows for Victor to use in building and rebuilding his nest to increasingly high levels of perfection. It seemed Yuuri needed to fulfil his alpha desire to provide his mate with the cosiest, softest blankets and pillows, and Victor was more than happy to [indulge and reward] these instincts.

[Starting to show] Victor ran his hand slowly over his abdomen, brow furrowed in concentration… Yes, he decided, there was definitely a slight bump as well as a layer of softness that had not been there before. He grabbed Yuuri’s hand in excitement, forgetting that his mate was still asleep.

His tone must have come across as urgent rather than elated, because Yuuri immediately shot upright and swayed slightly before turning and reaching for Victor.

“Victor, what - "

Victor pulled him back down to lie alongside him again.

“Sorry”, he apologised. “I didn’t mean to startle you. I just wanted to show you this.”

He took Yuuri’s hand and guided it to lay on the still subtle rise that was the beginnings of a baby belly. Yuuri blinked for a moment, appearing confused, then a grin crept across his face.

“You’re showing!”

“Yep!” Victor felt a grin split across his face. “Not much yet, but - mmph!”

He was silenced by Yuuri kissing him full on the mouth.

Together they lay back, keeping as close as possible at all times, and basked in the bliss of one of the first pleasant experiences for this pregnancy. Victor could feel Yuuri’s happy chest rumbles vibrating through him.

A little while later, when they had started to doze off, they heard little footsteps padding their way into their room and around to the head of their bed. Yuuri smiled and rolled over slightly to reach out to their daughter.

“Good morning, Aina”, he greeted in Japanese. “Did you sleep well?”

Aina nodded, then happily clambered up onto their bed and inserted herself between the two men. She petted Victor’s abdomen timidly as she had taken to doing, frowning slightly, but if she noticed any difference she didn’t comment on it.

“When will the babies be here?”, she asked instead, before absentmindedly starting to suck her thumb. Yuuri gently removed her thumb from her mouth and smoothed her dark hair back off her face.

“In about 5 months time. Hopefully”, Yuuri couldn’t seem to help add. Victor reached for his hand and squeezed it reassuringly, knowing Yuuri had been scaring himself reading about how multiple births often aren’t carried to full term.

“Is that a long time?”

“It will sometimes seem like a long time”, Victor admitted, possibly more to himself than her. “But it will all be worth it when they are out here with us.”

 

Chapter 5: Moods that Take Me and Erase Me

\- Late trimester(s)  
WHOSE POINT OF VIEW IS THIS CHAPTER FROM???? YUURI

Yuuri groaned and pressed back against his closed eyes with the heels of his palms, not entirely sure how he had put his foot in his mouth when they had just been discussing helping out with dinner serving at the onsen this evening after the arrival of a large bus of hungry tourists. But Victor had been extra prickly lately, what with his belly (somehow) continuing to expand and the babies kicking up a storm inside. Once or twice Yuuri swore he had been able to see a foot pressing outwards hard enough to cause a visible, alien-like bulge. He was careful to suppress his surprise and shock at these times, resisting the urge to gasp and recoil, should Victor notice and take offense… Which he seemed to be doing a lot, lately. Like just now, when Yuuri had rebuked Victor for expending too much energy trying to help around the onsen. They both knew the omegologist had advised Victor rest more often and elevate his legs, particularly as his feet started swelling more and more towards the end of the day.

Yuuri drew a deep breath, and tried to explain himself better this time.

“I didn’t mean to tell you what to do, or what your place is… You know I would never expect you to be some obedient omega, pregnant with your feet up… I’m just worried you are going to overdo it. What if you hurt the babies? Or yourself?”

Victor seemed to deflate a little at the last part, [seemingly] [placated].

“Sorry”, he said from behind his hands. “I guess I’m just a little sensitive right now. And sick of feeling like I’m just an incubator, and not me as a person.”

Yuuri didn’t hesitate in closing the gap between them, nuzzling into Victor’s hair, gently/tenderly scenting him as he did so. He pulled back a fraction of an inch so he could card his fingers through the silky, silvery locks and kiss his mate’s face while reassuring him out loud. “You have a lot going on for you right now, not to mention your hormones must be going crazy. But please don’t think that I only see you as an incubator growing our children... You will always be so much more than that to my family and I. You are our Vic-chan. And I don’t mean my late dog, before you say otherwise!”

-

“My beautiful, pregnant mate”, Yuuri sighed. He kneeled next to the couch so he could nuzzle Victor’s face and neck in greeting, doing his best to wrap his arms around the sleeping man while he lightly scented him. Victor sighed in his sleep and shifted ever-so-slightly, probably as much as he was capable of changing his position while lying down this heavily pregnant.

Not even an hour later, Victor awoke with his baby bump protruding slightly over the edge of the couch. His back hurt and his feet hurt and he felt like he hadn’t slept at all. He pushed these feelings aside and tried to focus on Yuuri kneeling in front of him with a smile not able to completely mask his concern.

“That can’t be good for you or the babies”, Yuuri said, petting the bump gently.

Victor let out a long-suffering sigh. “Maybe not, but I’m running out of places I can rest. It hurts my back too much to sleep sitting up; it’s too hard to get out of bed as often as I’m needing to pee, plus I’m worried I’ll accidentally end up lying on my back and endangering the babies; and I’ll never be able to get up on my own if I lie on one of the tatami mats you have downstairs for the onsen guests.”

Yuuri was quiet for a moment, now rubbing slow, comforting circles around Victor’s prominent belly. Then he said “Yuuko.”

“... What?” Victor asked, not sure where Yuuri was heading with this.

“Yuuko”, Yuuri repeated, smiling and kissing his mate’s forehead. “I remember she had one of those pregnancy pillows, a nice large one, when she was pregnant with the triplets. I’ll see if she still has it - I’m sure she won’t mind you using it. After all, she’s a good friend, and she knows what this is like for you.”

“She had it worse”, Victor mumbled, trying to shift further along the couch and sit up slightly so Yuuri could join him. “She had triplets, and she’s tiny!”

Yuuri hummed in agreement, helping Victor lower himself down again so he could lie with his head on his lap.

-

“Hey, Victor”, Yuuri said carefully, not wanting to upset his increasingly sensitive mate. “You’re, um, leaking.”

Sure enough, a pearly white liquid was leaking from his nipples, leaving small wet patches on the sheet he had had loosely draped over himself.

Victor blinked, unsure what to think.

“It sometimes happens!” his mate hastened to reassure him. “I was reading about it for the later stages of pregnancy… Maybe you didn’t get it when pregnant with Aina, but it’s perfectly normal, just your body getting ready so you’re able to breastfeed… Though you know Dr ________ said you will probably have to at least partially bottle feed with formula since you probably can’t make enough milk to feed two at the same time.”

“Yeah,” Victor sighed ruefully, “I’m old, I know - "

“No, and it’s not that!” Yuuri interjected. “It’s harder with multiples, especially for male omegas. And you still seem to have stayed lean for this pregnancy, like last time. That probably makes it harder to provide more.”

Victor huffed at that, though not really in discontent. They both knew that was just how his body was, as much as Yuuri wished he had the naturally slim physique.

-

Then there were other far more embarrassing [phenomena) related to the [prospective/upcoming/looming] birth to distract Victor with. Victor had taken to joining Yuuri in perusing the pregnancy information book, for which the weekly expectations pregnancy changes and baby development were becoming more [pronounced]. Victor could definitely relate to _____, ______, and ______, and took some [shared] comfort in seeing written expectation/reassurance that not being able to see your own feet due to the expansive baby belly girth is normal.

But it was perhaps reading ahead to the labour and birth sections that really shook Victor. He and Yuuri were discussing Aina’s birth (or the little Victor could remember it, anyway) in relation to the information provided in the book when Victor wrinkled his nose in an exaggerated fashion.

“Ew, gross! I really hope I don’t do this… It says here that when babies are on their way out they get a face full of faecal matter?? That can’t be good for them!”

To Victor’s [dissatisfaction], Yuuri didn’t even look mildly phased by this information.

“It’s totally normal”, Yuuri said mildy, absentmindedly pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose. “It’s supposed to happen with every non-C-section birth.”

Victor remained unconvinced.

“I’m not going to do it, ever”, he said [vehemently], shaking his head [stubbornly].

“Well, it already happened when Aina was born.”

“WHAT?!” If Victor wasn’t so big by this time, he would have shot straight up into the air in response to this revelation.

“Vitya, it’s a normal part of regular births.”

“Don’t ‘Vitya’ me, I don’t deserve it! I’m disgusting!”

“No, no you’re not! As I keep saying, it’s a completely natural part of childbirth. In fact, it needs to happen in order to help baby’s immune system. See, it says so right here”, Yuuri said patiently, pointing at the relevant section.

But it seems his mate could not be [placated].

“No, I’m a disgusting monster who pooped on our daughter before I even got to see her!” Victor rolled away from Yuuri, first to face the wall and then dramatically onto his front to hide his face when Yuuri tried to pry his hands away from his face.

Mari chose that moment to pop her head in the door to check on them on her way passed. “What’s up with him?”

“He found out he pooped on our daughter”, Yuuri said, deadpan.

“… I don’t want to know”, Mari decided out loud.

-

[Has to be admitted to hospital, observation nesting unit, for last weeks/month, as he is at greater risk of complications with twins and as an older male omega]

\- Victor having to be on bed rest, becoming upset and tearful that he can’t even have a good look out the window properly from where he has to lie on the bed attached to cords (pulse oximeter, foetal heart monitor, etc). Yuuri’s heart breaks for Victor when he is looking at what he can see of the sky outside and whispers that he just wants to feel the sun on his face again… So Yuuri turns off and detaches the non-essential monitors so he can move Victor on his hospital bed over to the window, raises the head of the bed, and sits behind Victor so he can support/hold him to sit up straight enough to get a little bit of sun on his face and neck. This inadvertently alerts nurses and brings them to check on Victor hurriedly as his monitors had alarmed at the nursing station when Yuuri had taken them off Victor’s toe/finger and belly. Yuuri looks a bit sheepish when he realises what has happened, but Victor looks so peaceful, relaxed, and happy with his eyes closed, enjoying the sun on his face, that Yuuri barely has to look pleadingly at the nurses before they quietly find an attach a portable foetal heart monitor to Victor’s belly so he can stay relaxed with Yuuri while the sun is there for just a little bit longer.

\- Aina stays at the onsen and is looked after the rest of the family while Yuuri stays with Victor as much as he’s allowed. Aina is brought to visit her papa as much as possible, but the hospital upsets her so they mostly talk over Skype despite not living too far away.

-

“Braxton-Hicks are uncomfortable, maybe unpleasant, but normal ones aren’t supposed to hurt”, Victor reassured, absently stroking his own rounded belly.

Yuuri knew this about Braxton-Hicks contractions, as he had also been there when their doctor explained the practice contractions the body employed to prepare for the impending birth… But it was something else to see the rhythmic muscle waves roll across and the baby bump, his own gut twisting in sympathy every time.

Beside him, Victor grimaced slightly as another strange ripple moved across the top and down both sides of his taught abdomen. Yuuri hesitantly reaches out and lays a hand, and was soon rewarded with feeling another [muscular wave/contraction] a short time later.

-

Yuuri instinctively nestled closer, still wrapped in the warm cocoon of his own sleep. He lay like that, somewhere between dreams and consciousness, relishing/feeling the little wiggles that occasionally pushed against his face and hands. He marvelled that the babies could manage even these little movements slotted together as snuggly as they were in their increasingly cramped environment.

Any day now… Any day now, they would meet their babies.

-

 

Chapter 6: Sing You’re Melody, I’ll Sing Along

\- Birth? Or just postnatal  
WHOSE POINT OF VIEW IS THIS CHAPTER FROM???? VICTOR

Victor had to admit he didn’t remember much of the birth, and he’s still not sure if that’s a good thing or a bad thing. On one hand, there definitely had been pain, and not just for him after he had accidentally elbowed Yuuri in the head at one point when his mate had been trying to help reposition him. On the other hand, he felt a slight sense of loss at not being able to recall all the details of how he brought the latest additions to their family into the world. As it was, Yuuri obligingly filled in any gaps in his recollection, all the while snuggling/lying/curling protectively close around an exhausted Victor to assist holding and bonding with their newborns.

 

By the time their extended family and friends had visited in groups, Victor had never felt so loved.


End file.
